After my morning exercise, as it was Sunday, I went with the boys to the riverside so that I could buy some bread at Kaiser and give Ponleu a chance to feed the pigeons. It's always a challenge crossing any road in this city but Sunday's, early in the morning, is a dream.
For me a crusty loaf of healthy looking bread is comfort food; I could live on bread especially when there's some butter and nice cheese lying around. Most likely Cambodia got the idea of bread from the French when they colonised the country. The French liked to call such places "Protectorates" but heaven only knows from what they were protecting the local people. Videos of their time in South East Asia are not nice to watch but I suppose it's the same for all colonial powers. There are lots of bakeries nowadays in the cities in Cambodia but they prefer to produce a soft white bread and various cakes. Baguettes are hugely popular but they have to be eaten immediately. Bread is even called "Pain" - pronounced the French way. Kaiser prefers to make European style bread and calls itself a "Boulangerie" - maybe that helps them to offer a light meal for $9. Anyway, I do enjoy their bread with crispy crusts.
For some reason there weren't so many pigeons in front of the royal palace. Ponleu started to feed them but children kept running through the flock to send them into the air. It really annoyed Ponleu and he said he'd shoot them if he had a gun; the people, not the birds. A Khmer lady beckoned Oudom to go over to talk to her. I knew it would be about me. He said she told him it was always a good idea to have a Western friend as they were better than Cambodian friends. It's sad that people feel that way as often a local friend is far more important than a foreign one.
Back home we had our showers and breakfast. They both wanted toast and, as usual, it was peanut butter for Oudom and thinly sliced cheese for Ponleu. I had to get some work done so I said they could stay until lunch and then I'd take them home for a while. I find entertaining children a huge challenge. These two like nothing better than to be left alone with a computer or mobile device but it bothers me. They both enjoy books so I really need a children's library. I'm told there's a children's library in the city so maybe I should seek it out and take them there.
Oudom constantly searches on the internet for information and he comes up with the most obscure things. This time he told me the capital of Brunei and the fact that fresh bread cuts easier if I turned the loaf upside down and pressed down on it when cutting. He had also researched about North Korea.
The two lads came back in the evening and we had to have a compulsory fantasy movie. It's fascinating watching the boys' facial expressions as they watch something that leaves me cold. This time it was about an elf lady falling in love with a human boy and their battle with an evil dragon which turned out to be a good person who'd been turned into something bad. Heaven only knows by what as we were watching part two.
